On Friday, January 26, Facebook announced a partnership with top journalism organizations in the US to establish The Facebook Journalism Project Scholarship program. It will grant awards to 100 students who want a career in news and media.

In the past year, Facebook started an all-out effort to curb fake news on its platform. To promote awareness, the US Senate has started its own investigation and hearings.

The social network even hired internal and third-party fact checkers to curtail the spread of fake news stories. It partnered with fact-checkers Snopes and PolitiFact to check the accuracy of disputed news stories. Recently, Facebook switched from this to a more user-driven approach.

Influence in Journalism

Facebook, along with Google, accounts for the two largest sources of online ad revenue. Many brands and marketers use it to reach or expand their audience to potential customers.

In the 2016 election, several US government organizations, including Germany, accused the social network of spreading bad publicity and fake news to the electorate.

The scholarship offer is an indirect approach to prevent this from happening again. It helps students pursue careers in journalism so, when they graduate, they can help stop the proliferation of phony stories.

Facebook Journalism Project Scholarship

In a post on their official media page, Facebook News Partnerships head Campbell Brown said the company wants to help diverse students in their path to journalism, communications or digital media careers.

In the 2018-19 school year, Facebook’s scholarship program will start awarding grants to these organizations: National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Asian American Journalists Association, Native American Journalists Association and National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

Each organization will receive a total of $250,000, awarded as $50,000 per year over five years. They will award five $10,000 scholarships to applicants each year. This sums up to $1M in grants from Facebook combined.

Eligibility

Here’s a list of the requirements for interested applicants:

Enrolled as a junior, senior or graduate student in an accredited US university

Taking up a degree in journalism, digital media or communications with a commitment to storytelling

Letter of recommendation from a professor or internship supervisor familiar with their work